Resources

While telemedicine was initiated in 2001 in India, its use was accelerated due to the pandemic related restrictions. The national telemedicine and telepsychiatry guidelines facilitated and enabled its widespread use. This article highlights the evolution and use of telemedicine in child and adolescent healthcare in India, in the pre and post pandemic era. Latest research has endorsed telemedicine as a successful strategy in resource-limited settings to provide accessible and equitable healthcare. During the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth was used by private and public health establishments, in urban, rural, and remote areas in India. It was used for triaging cases, managing and monitoring COVID patients in home isolation, in non-COVID medical and psychiatric care, and follow-up, continuing medical education, and health promotion strategies. This article concludes that telemedicine is likely to become an integral part of healthcare services in the post pandemic era. It is a useful resource for implementers.  Click here to read the article.